"The Hutts wouldn't dare incur our wrath, master."
―Sev'rance Tann
The Hutt Cartel, known as the Cartel or New Hutt Empire, is a powerful criminal syndicate, or business alliance of Hutts. Jabba Desilijic Tiure holds considerable power in the Cartel. Aside from its criminal activity, the Hutt Cartel maintains a personal military consisting of both an army and a starfleet and even ruling over swathes of territories.
Officially, the Hutt Cartel is a business alliance between several different Hutt clans, working together towards the common goals of wealth and prosperity. Between its members, the Hutt Cartel controls vast resources, countless credits and many independent worlds–not least among them Hutta, their adopted homeworld, and Nar Shaddaa, the crown jewel of the underworld. Although the Hutts have no formal government, the Hutt Cartel acts as a loose governing body on these worlds and others. Unofficially, the Hutt Cartel is a ruthless crime syndicate whose goals are not always so united. Turf wars and clan infighting have often left the Cartel in splintered uproar. Personal grudges and cutthroat competition can result in two rival clans warring in the streets one day and feasting together the next.